Y-12’s new LC-SEM, manufactured by VisiTec, has the largest chamber in the world. At magnifications from 10x to 200,000x, the instrument can examine specimens measuring up to 1 m high by 1 m in diameter and weighing 300 kg. The LC-SEM is designed to accommodate special fixtures and allows for nondestructive evaluation of full-size components.

The instrument’s variable-pressure option enables researchers to perform critical surface characterization studies on conductive and non-conductive surfaces like steel and ceramics.

The LC-SEM is equipped also with a Backscatter Detector, Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry (EDS), Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD), a Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FT-IR), and a Focused Ion Beam (FIB).

Those demystifying devices can help you determine, among other things, how corrosion came about, what corrupted a chemical composition, or why a part snapped in two.